waste not - want not: making marmelade on the farm

i never thought of myself as someone who'd unnecessarily waste - be it paper, water, electricity and food. as i said i never thought so. 

it was the case until i met ailsa from the riebeeks who told me during the early stage of our friendship i'm 'obviously not a war baby' - which she was during those horribly days in england. 

i've been, supported by another dear friend, trying to get her to pen down her tips for saving, ranging from onion skins to chicken bones and recycling reclycled stuff until it no longer can serve any purpose whatsoever. maybe one day she will. 

during a recent visit i was once again astounded at her ability to make something out of virtually nothing. this time it was marmelade - made from lemons from the farm she 'rescued' that would have otherwise completely gone to waste. 

and ailsa doesn't like things wasting . . . 

on a chilly saturday afternoon, the message was clear - today is marmelade day. the little kitchen on the farm immediately transformed from a coffee & chat haven into a buzzy beehive of activity: curtains were flung open, ingredients plonked down on the well-used work surface under the window with a lovely look out onto the mountain side of the farm and slowly the smell of lemons started filling the air.

action station - all and sundry ready for the process of making marmelade

on the side: the beautiful old scales still do the occasional weighing of heavier products

and hiding behind the scales: stemming from the transformation to decimal, this has remained part of the household ever since.

sugar is one of the very few ingredients that needs to be purchased

sugar's done, now for the rest

 in the meantime the lemon pulp is happily bubbling away in an enormous pot "we don't talk too much about" 

  

 surely one of the most beautiful and versatile fruits 

 ailsa's test for texture and stickyness. it must be of a certain consistency prior to being seen as marmelade

  

adding a few drops of oil creates some magic - but at this stage i was on info overload. just know that it is an important trick to do activate some process

 when the marmelade start looking like this whilst bubbling away in the pot, it's nearly ready to be decantered.

 the beautiful marmelade gets decantered into sterilized and very hot jam jars 

 the wax circles - all the way from london and acquired for a very reasonable price, of course.

even though i'm still a bit at a loss as to how all ended up together in this golden combination of colour and taste, i will not forget inhaling every fragrant moment of the creation process. now it's time for tea, toast and marmelade, of course!